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Tuesday, July 31, 2012

I have really slacked this past week with blogging. My beautiful sister and nieces just flew in from Colorado to spend the next two weeks in Massachusetts with my family and the last week in Florida on our family reunion trip! Also, I have been swamped with endless amounts of work. I wonder what I was thinking when I thought it was a good idea to take 3 masters courses all at once...I guess I wasn't really thinking clearly, hehe. Here's to staying afloat for another 8 weeks!

First, I wanted to give a special "Thank You" to Corinna over at Teaching Fabulous Firsties for also nominating me with One Lovely Blog award! She was so generous to recognize me and I wanted to share my appreciation with all of you!

Second, I wanted to give another "Thank You" to my many new visitors and followers! All of you inspire me to grown, learn, share and create and for that I am most appreciative!

In honor of all the love I have received in the last week, I am giving my Fundations Level 2 Benchmark Assessment (Check it out HERE) to the First 2 comments for FREE!!! With your comment, please leave your email and I will be happy to send it right over to you!

Thank you to everyone for taking the time to visit and I promise to be better with my posts!

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

These are amazing and there are so many uses for these in your classroom. Well, Lori from Teaching with Love and Laughter, is giving one away. Secretly, I would love to not say anything so I can improve my chances, but I know so many of you would benefit from one of these!

Monday, July 23, 2012

I woke up this morning to NOT one, but TWO Versatile Blogger Awards! This is such an honor for me and I feel so fortunate that even in the early stages of blogging I have others who are willing to recognize me!

The first Versatile Blogger Award came from...Andi! Check out her blog by clicking on the link below...she gives tips about couponing! (Who doesn't love a good coupon?!)

Now, I must share 7 random facts about myself:
1. I have been bit by a Black Widow Spider
2. I love Football and anything sports related. I literally watch the Draft, I know it's crazy!
3. I was born and raised in Colorado.
4. I will be getting married in 1 year! Beyond excited for that day!
5. I have to admit that I am addicted to watching Bachelor/Bachelorette.
6. I spend every Thursday night getting together with my family for dinner.
7. I teach in a school with about 40 students total.

Here are the 5 amazing blogs I have chosen to nominate! Please check them out, you won't be disappointed...I promise!

hosting linky parties where you share the resources you couldn't live with out! We all have those go to items, so I knew I had to participate!

Here are my Top 5 Must Haves!

#1 - Raz-Kids

Raz-Kids is an amazing website where students can read or listen to leveled stories online. After each reading, they can take quizzes to test their comprehension. Each story and quiz, earns the reader stars they can use to decorate and create their spaceship. My students LOVED this website last year and cheer every time I mention it!

#2 - Interactive Whiteboard

My school installed one in my classroom 2 years ago. I knew I didn't NEED this item to teach, but I am telling you now that I CAN'T live without it. My students are always engaged in the lessons on the board and there are so many uses for it in the classroom!

#3 - Plastic Shoe Box Containers

These containers have helped me organize so many areas and materials in my classroom. They also cost less than $1 a piece. The organizer in me would not be able to function in our classroom without these. (Sorry about the blurry picture, there will be more of these and my classroom in an upcoming post.)

#4 - Evan-Moor Take It To Your Seat Centers

I LOVE Evan-Moor's seat centers. I came across these when I read a post on Proteacher.org. I started with just two sets and now I am up to seven and hoping to get more. These have helped me out when a sub comes in or when I have a last minute meeting. I tape the cover to the front of the folder and the directions on the back. I then laminate the folder and all the materials. Everything gets stored inside the folder. My students are able to work on these folders independently. These are a must-have.

And last but NOT least...

#5 - Personal Laminator

Anyone who knows me in my school would call me the laminating queen, as you can tell from the description of #4. Who wants to have to deal with ripped up paper and materials. I live for laminating things I love and want to keep for a long time!

Saturday, July 21, 2012

I just had to join this Newbie Blog Hop since I am about as new as it gets. I am so thrilled to be learning from the many amazing teacher bloggers out there, as well as share what I think will help others. So here it goes:

1. what state you are in
I currently live in the Green Mountain State of Vermont.

2. your current teaching position

I have been working in a small, rural school in Massachusetts. I teach 2nd and 3rd grade and will have only 9 students next year. I can hear the gasps now! I feel very fortunate to work with so few students that I can really support each one individually.

3. your teaching experience

I have been teaching for 4 years, but I have been working in schools for about 6 years. The first year was as a ELL tutor and the second was as a behavioral classroom assistant.

4. when you started blogging

I began blogging at the beginning of this month. I am still getting acquainted with the whole process, but I love sharing what I know with others, as well as learning from them. I have learned so much more than I could have imagined.

5. share a blogging tip / blogging resource

This post has so many great tips to support newbie bloggers. You just have to check it out!!

Friday, July 20, 2012

I was so graciously given the Liebster Blog Award yesterday and now it's my turn to recognize others who are just getting started. These 5 fabulous blogs are well deserving of this award. You must check them out! Enjoy ladies!

I came home last night and discovered that I had my first follower. As well as a follower, I discovered that Miss Cayer (my 1st follower, yay!) awarded me the Liebster Award. I feel so honored being that I am new to the blogging world. Miss Cayer thank you so much for honoring my blog! You have made my day. Also, thank you for giving me another great blog to follow...yours! Your job now is to check her fabulous blog out. Over the next few days, I will be working to pay it forward and spread the love to others!

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Sorry about my absence over the last week. My fiance has been home and I have been taking in every moment I can with him, as well as working on my 3 graduate courses! Yes, I said 3 courses. Crazy, right?! Well I am back in the swing of things, but wishing my Mr. was home.

Anyways, I'm back. I just had to blog as soon as I discovered this amazing website. It's called Whole Brain Teaching and provides teachers with FREE (Did you hear that? Free!) materials to support math fact fluency, sight word fluency and many others. I have just began to download the materials and there is so much to see! The only requirement they have is that you share their website with 10 other teachers. With all the teacher blogging in this world, it seems to be a pretty simple task to me.

I hope all of you will check out their website and take advantage of their FREE items!

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

What a busy and wonderful day! I had summer school today and ended up with only one student. That's always a treat! She is such a hard worker and it makes for a fulfilling day. From there, I had meetings with the staff, which was accompanied by lots of laughter! The day ended with my lineman fiance finally coming home from storm work (10 days later) and taking me out to dinner...I can't even begin to tell you how happy that made me! If you saw me right now, you would see a permanant smile, hehe!

The best way I can honor the day is by sharing the love with a FREEBIE!!

I have begun working on my Polka-Dot theme for this year and I made Clock Labels that fit the color scheme perfectly! I hope you enjoy them and please let me know what you think...any feedback is good feedback!

Monday, July 9, 2012

I am soo beyond excited to be joining the blogging world with so many amazing and talented teachers! I have been watching so many of you create, share, and support other teachers that I just had to join in too.

Before I get into anything about teaching, I just have to tell you a little about myself. I am a Colorado native, and I still have family who lives there (THANKFULLY, none of my family was affected by the fires). I now live in Vermont, in our new house, with my fiance. We are set to get married July 27, 2013. I am so looking forward to that day! I have been teaching for 4 years at a small, rural school with about 40 students total. I will have 9 kids this year...I can hear many of you now, "Did she just say 9 kids?" Crazy, right?! It's an amazing school to work at and you REALLY get to know all of the kids in the school. Okay, so enough about me!

When I set out to start a blog, I realized how difficult it was to come up with a creative title. However, I knew that the two things I loved were teaching and style. As I wracked my brain, I noticed the T.J. Maxx commercial and I heard them say "Maxxanista. It's simple to say from there Confessions of a Teachanista was born. I don't feel that I have to give up style just because I am a teacher, I can really have the best of both worlds. Honey Bunch Designs did an amazing job in combining the two things I love...I just adore my blog!!

I wanted to start of my first blog by sharing an item that has become extremely important to me. During my 2nd year of teaching, we were introduced and required to start using Fundations to teach phonics skills. I loved the program and the unit assessments. It took me some time to become familiar with the program, but now I am able to create so many great activities to go with it. The one thing I felt that was missing or at least I couldn't find was a benchmark assessment. So the following summer, I went through the units and created my own assessment. It's simple, user-friendly and only takes maybe 5 minutes to give. What more does a teacher want?

I have decided to share my assessment with teacher friends. You have all been so helpful with the many items you add to your stores and share! You can find my Fundations Level 2 Benchmark Assessment on my TPT store (Click HERE). There is also a link to a student copy which is FREE. Right now I am running a sale on my assessment...it's ONLY $5! I hope you find that it is as helpful to you as it has been for me.

Thank you for letting me rant a little bit...I can go on forever (this is what the soon-to-be husband would say).